Banding pattern indicative of echinococcosis in a commercial cysticercosis Western blot

• Published in: European journal of medical research 2009-09, Vol.14 (10), p.451-452
• Main Authors: Tappe, Dennis, Grüner, B, Kern, P, Frosch, M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alveolar echinococcosis; Banding pattern; Blotting, Western; Cross Reactions; Cross-reactivity; Cystic echinococcosis; Cysticercosis; Cysticercosis - diagnosis; Cysticercosis - immunology; Echinococcosis; Echinococcosis - immunology; Humans; Musical groups; Parasitic diseases; Serology; Western blot
• ISSN: 0949-2321; 2047-783X; 2047-783X
• DOI: 10.1186/2047-783x-14-10-451

A commercial cysticercosis Western blot was evaluated for serological cross-reactivity of sera from patients with alveolar (AE) and cystic echinococcosis (CE). A total of 161 sera were examined, including 31 sera from AE-patients, 11 sera from CE- patients, 9 sera from patients with other parasitic diseases and 109 sera from patients with unrelated medical conditions. All AE- and CE-sera were also examined by the echinococcosis Western blot. More sera from patients with AE than with CE showed cross-reactivity in the form of ladder-like patterns ("Mikado aspect") and untypical bands at 6-8 kDa (71% and 77.4% versus 27.3% and 45.5%, respectively). In contrast, triplets of bands in the area above 50 kDa and between 24 and 39-42 kDa were more frequent in CE than in AE sera. The fuzzy band at 50-55 kDa typical for cysticercosis was absent in all AE and CE sera. Atypical banding patterns in the cysticercosis Western blot should raise the suspicion of a meta?cestode infection different from Taenia solium, i.e. Echinococcus multilocularis or E. granulosus, especially when the Mikado aspect and an altered 6-8 kDa band is visible in the absence of a fuzzy 50-55 kDa band.